Movie Review: Sin Nombre (2009 - Spanish)

Title : Sin Nombre (No name)

Spanish with English Subtitles

Starring: Many unknown actors


Writer and Director: Cary Fukunaga




Score: 8.5/10



This is the story about the aspirations of an impoverished family from Guatemala for a better life. The father and his son and daughter Seyra take up the arduous journey to come to the US border through Mexico. I am a sucker for any movie which involves the characters being on road and giving us a visual glimpse of different towns, people and terrains. This movie had all of it. The journey starts with the family getting on top of a train's roof with the intent of making it to US.



At the same time across the border on Mexico we watch the life of Willy also known as Casper, a teenager who is part of a violent gang which is involved in turf wars with a rival gang. Killing the rival gang members is their main activity. It is led by a brutal leader who shows his mettle when he kills a rival gang member and cuts him up and feed him to dogs. Willey introduces a young boy of 13 or 14 years into the gang. We watch the initiation of the boy when he is mercilessly battered by a bunch of gang members while the leader counts from 1 to 13. Since the boy survives this assault, he is now inducted into the gang. For reasons I will not divulge Willey becomes disheartened with his gang. This movie becomes interesting when these 2 stories intersect each other in the form Willey and Seyra's relationship.



The movie successfully captures the abject poverty and the resulting distress and destitution in the third world countries. This drives the young members into gangs and the related dangerous life styles. The scenes of a large group of men, women and children lying on the railway tracks waiting for the train to come is a very powerful image and gives a very good background on why the characters are trying to cross into US. The train journey and the natural landscape provide a fantastic reflection of the situations and emotions in which the main characters find themselves in. The start of a new morning also brings a glimmer of hope on the faces of the travelers. The beautiful landscape of Mexico is a great backdrop and it is a pleasure to see it amidst the couple of towns through which the train passes with these prospective illegal immigrants. One very memorable scene involves a group of boys and girls throwing fruits into the hands of these travelers much to the gratitude of the recipients . In the process of this story we are given a fantastic study of many different types of human emotions and characters. Large part of the credit should go to the script writer Cary Fukunaga for weaving a complex set of realities into a visually stunning and gripping story. The director (Cary Fukunaga again) also has exercised complete control and maturity in how he handles the story without giving in for gimmickry and populist techniques.




The photography captures the rough and beautiful terrain of Guatemala and Mexico in a spectacular style. The picturization of the train journey and choice of locales such as the desolate railway station is very effective. The music is different and is haunting. The actors have given some excellent performances. It is a very humane story exposing the way people make choices in their lives.

I am really amazed at the number of good movies that are coming out of Mexico. This one is definitely one of the most exciting movies I have watched.

This gets 8.5/10